Two Hall of Famers possess the accolade of main-eventing WWE Raw back in 2004 in a one-off occasion. Coincidentally, one of the future women’s main eventers, Charlotte Flair, was also in attendance that night, but being young, she barely realized how historic that moment was, and she got to experience that first-hand.
Recently, Charlotte Flair opened up on The Players’ Tribune on her career and the way she was influenced by others in the circuit. In the session, she revealed an interesting experience, and that’s to be part of a match on WWE Raw that would go on to become one of the most important moments in women’s wrestling history, and that’s a WWE Women’s Title Match between Trish Stratus and Lita.
“I was actually in the crowd for Trish [Stratus] and Lita’s ‘Raw’ main event, in North Carolina in 2004,” Charlotte Flair wrote. “I had no idea how historic their match was at the time. But I do now, and I’m so glad they’ve both come back and worked big shows over the last few years.” (quotes courtesy Wrestling INC)
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Lita and Trish featured in WWE Raw main event back in 2004
The concerned match is helmed as the very first match in professional wrestling where two women would go on to headline WWE Raw in a singles bout, contested for the Women’s Championship. While the original Evolution in the WWE took place a long time after that, that night marked a turning point in the history of women’s wrestling. That night, Stratus and Lita competed in the match for about 7 minutes, with the ending seeing Lita capturing the WWE Women’s World Championship from Stratus.
Charlotte Flair herself featured in the second main event in women’s wrestling in 2016 when she wrestled Sasha Banks over the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. These two would also go on to headline the Hell in a Cell premium live event in that same year, in another first-time occasion.
Despite retiring in the Ruthless Aggression Era, Stratus and Lita had stayed relevant across women’s wrestling, making multiple returns on WWE Raw and Smackdown, over the years for more matches. In the process, they’ve helped normalize the women’s headliner scenario that previously used to be a special attraction.